Framingham and police officer sued by family of man killed by SWAT team

The family of the man killed by a Framingham SWAT team member during a 2011 raid of his home filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday in federal court against the police department and the officer who fired the fatal round.

The family of the man killed by a Framingham SWAT team member during a 2011 raid of his home filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday in federal court against the police department and the officer who fired the fatal round.

District Attorney Gerry Leone investigated and found Officer Paul Duncan fired the fatal shot from his M4 submachine gun accidentally after tripping inside a dark hallway in Eurie A. Stamps' Fountain Street home during a drug raid in the early morning of Jan. 5, 2011. The 68-year-old man's stepson, Joseph Bushfan, was a target of the raid.

The 32-page lawsuit, filed by Stamps' widow Norma Bushfan Stamps and his son Eurie A. Stamps Jr., claims the shooting was intentional and demands a jury trial.

"We’ve conducted our own investigation on behalf of the Stamps family and it is our view that the story that was told by the officer who fired the weapon is fundamentally inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence," Boston attorney Anthony Tarricone said Friday.

The estate of Eurie A. Stamps Sr. seeks compensatory and punitive damages from Duncan, as an individual and as a Framingham police officer, and the town of Framingham.

The suit, in part, blames Stamps’ death on the town’s "policy or custom of grossly inadequate training and supervision of its police officers."

Anticipating a lawsuit, selectmen have met several times behind closed doors to discuss it.

"It’s an unfortunate tragedy," Kesten said Friday after reviewing the complaint. "The town regrets what happened but every investigation has determined that this was a tragic accident and we’ll let the system of justice proceed."

Leone in March 2011 ruled Stamps’ death an accident and cleared Duncan of any criminal wrongdoing. He returned to the job from paid leave a month later.

Following the shooting, Police Chief Steven Carl assembled a community panel to look into the shooting, the SWAT team and its aftermath.

SWAT expert Steve Ijames, meanwhile, conducted an independent probe for the town that resulted in policy changes for the heavily armed team.

Carl told selectmen in January that his department reduced the size of the team from 18 members to 12, and was beefing up training, requiring four more hours each month.

Also, based on a recommendation from the Framingham Citizens Committee on Police in the Community, Carl said SWAT team members would keep their tactical weapons on "safe" mode until "the officer is ready to shoot."

In the case of the Stamps shooting, "If the weapon was on ‘safe,’ it would not have gone off," Carl told selectmen and a crowd of concerned residents in January.

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Police were executing a search warrant during the raid, based on probable cause that 20-year-old Joseph Bushfan and Dwayne Barrett were dealing drugs out of the first-floor apartment at 26 Fountain St., according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges the entire SWAT team knew Stamps, a former Cambridge resident and retired mechanic for the MBTA, and his wife, lived there with her son.

"Mr. Stamps was not the target of the search warrant, was not suspected of any crime, did not resist the police, and posed no risk of danger to the police," the lawsuit reads.

Deputy Chief Craig Davis activated the team because Bushfan had a history of violent criminal offenses and Barrett was affiliated with a gang, the suit reads.

"In direct violation of established policies," the department failed to prepare a written operations plan, or record all of its planning and decision-making, the suit reads.

Detectives arrested Bushfan outside the home, and based on six hours of surveillance had no evidence that Barrett was in the home, according to the lawsuit.

At least 13 members of the SWAT team entered the home despite Detective Matt Gutwill’s attempt to abort the execution of the search warrant since Bushfan was in custody and Barrett didn’t appear to be there, according to the lawsuit.

Officers saw Stamps’ wife on the steps of the home and ordered her to lie down, then took her down the street where she was guarded by a police officer, the lawsuit reads.

SWAT team members broke windows and set off a "flash bang" explosive to create smoke and loud noise in the kitchen before Duncan used a battering ram to break down the door. Officers then charged into the home, according to the lawsuit.

When Stamps came out of his bedroom, where he had been watching TV, officers ordered him to lay on his stomach with his hands above his head, according to the lawsuit.

Duncan said his gun went off when he lost his balance and fell while trying to secure Stamps’ hands, but that "story" contradicts the laws of physics and isn’t consistent with the physical evidence or forensic analysis, the lawsuit reads.

Instead, Duncan pulled the trigger while pointing his gun at Stamps’ head, with it on semi-automatic with the safety "off," the lawsuit alleges.

The bullet hit Stamps on the left side of his face in a trajectory consistent with Duncan aiming the gun from a standing position, according to the lawsuit, and then exited through his neck, re-entering the body and piercing his heart and left lung.

"The family has a right to know the truth and the community has a right to know the truth and we are hopeful that this lawsuit will ferret out the truth and reveal what really happened that evening," Tarricone said.

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During the raid, officers found and arrested Devon Talbert, who was kneeling on the floor in a back bedroom with his hands up, according to the lawsuit.

Stamps’ family is seeking "an amount sufficient to fully and fairly compensate the Estate of Eurie A. Stamps, Sr." for eight counts against the town and Duncan under the state's wrongful death statute and the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Danielle Ameden can be reached at 508-626-4416 or dameden@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleAmeden.